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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27501583">Me Without You</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/wtfisgoingonanymore/pseuds/wtfisgoingonanymore'>wtfisgoingonanymore</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020 contributions [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Merlin (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, But today is not the day, I'll fix these tags someday, Implied Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin) - Freeform, M/M, Whumptober 2020</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-08 02:53:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>929</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27501583</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/wtfisgoingonanymore/pseuds/wtfisgoingonanymore</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Three years after the death of King Arthur Pendragon, the widowed Queen has chosen her new king.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>George/Leon (Merlin), Gwen/Leon (Merlin)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020 contributions [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1945591</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Me Without You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpiritWorld/gifts">SpiritWorld</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>No 11. PSYCH 101<br/> <b><i>Defiance | Struggling | Crying </i></b></p><p>I had this in my drafts for a while and I forgot to post it so- here it is now XDDDD</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><br/>
When the King died, nobody mourned for him more than his manservant. The people mourned the loss of a great king, the knights mourned for their strong leader and friend, and the Queen mourned for her lover; but it was Merlin who mourned for all three of those qualities and more. Because to him, Arthur Pendragon was not just a king, a friend, or a lover. To Merlin, Arthur was his entire being from his skin to his soul. He didn't just lose a person; he lost himself. </p><p>
  <em>After all, what kind of a coin would it be if it didn't have its other half?</em>
</p><p>George didn't understand the answer to that question until the third year of Queen Guinevere's reign. At the time, he and Leon were in their second year of proper courting. It was George imagined heaven to be like. <br/>
Leon was the first knight of Camelot. He has battled griffins, dragons, skeletons, immortal men, and so many more; He was rough and strong, but he also anything but. </p><p>Leon was soft as he came up behind George and gently slipped whatever was keeping him up so late at night out of his hands and replaced it with his own. Whenever he went out, Leon always made sure to buy the best and most useful items he could find to give to George. In return, George would personally prepare him the best of baths after a long day- adding in his favorite scents and massaging his head for him. He would bring him his favorite food, and together they would eat and talk mindlessly as they relaxed in each other's presence. They were soft in that way. What they had was different than that of what was so clearly present in the King's relationship with his manservant, but it was just as perfect. Sometimes, George would look at Merlin and would feel bad that he had what Merlin could not. </p><p>That's why he started helping the man as much as he could. Merlin often found himself in the bedroom that the King would use back in his Princely days. George would often find him there scrubbing the floor, tidying up, and polishing armor - only to promptly fall down gasping for air amongst his painful sobs. That's when George would coax the grieving man onto the bed and let him cry it out.</p><p>While George understood that you can't quickly get over someone you loved passing away, he didn't understand why Merlin seemed to be living as if it was just yesterday that the King died. Not once did he ever get better since that day in Camlann- sometimes it's almost like he's gotten worse.</p><p>And then...</p><p>And then Queen Guinevere started getting older and continued to have no one by her side.<br/>
And then the council started pressuring her to marry.<br/>
And then Leon suddenly drifted from George's to give her majesty his support.<br/>
And then George found himself staying up all night with no one to stop him. He found himself staring at a cold bath with no one to sink into it and no one to eat such luxurious food with. He found himself aching even more at the sight of Merlin and tearing up after a few more days at the treacherous leech of thoughts filling his head.</p><p>And then...then...</p><p>"YOU CAN'T!!! HOW DARE YOU REPLACE ARTHUR SO QUICKLY LIKE THAT?! HE LOVED YOU!!"</p><p>George watched from the shadows of the council room as Merlin raged and pulled against Sir Percival's hold on him. He upset. He was very upset. </p><p><br/>
George understood it all now.</p><p>"Merlin..."<br/>
"NO!! YOU DON'T GET TO TALK!! YOU CAN'T JUST TAKE UP KING AS IF ARTHUR WAS NOTHING!"<br/>
"Arthur was never nothing!"<br/>
"Well, that's how you're treating him!!"<br/>
"Merlin, I am getting older, Camelot needs an heir, and I need someone by my side."<br/>
"So you're going to marry his best friend and give him the title that is rightfully ARTHURS?!?!"<br/>
"Merlin, I beg of you, please try to understand-"<br/>
"You could've been consort, and yet you are SO intent on taking Arthur's place. Well, you'll never be half the King Arthur was!! Never!! You'll fail!! "<br/>
"Merlin!"</p><p>And that's when George stepped out. He calmly walked over to the sobbing and enraged Merlin and placed a hand on his shoulder. Teary eyes met teary eyes as they looked to each other- pain recognizing pain. For once, George didn't care as he faced the room full of nobles with a river of tears flowing non-stop down his face.  </p><p>"I shall take him, your majesty. Congratulations on your marriage, my Queen. You certainly chose the perfect man. I will personally help in ensuring it will be the most perfect celebration." </p><p>"George-"</p><p>"Excuse us."  George cut off the future King of Camelot, the man he came to realize that he was so madly deeply in love with. He didn't care about propriety at that moment. No more.<br/>
He and Merlin held onto each other as they walked out and made it a few steps into the hallway before they crumbled in unison and cried in agony.</p><p>What kind of a coin would it be if it didn't have its other half? </p><p>A worthless one. Such a coin can only do so much with half of itself. It may look like a coin, and it may deceive people into believing it was just a regular coin, but it is not. It is a broken, worthless, useless coin.</p><p>
  <em>And that's precisely what the two men were now- a broken, worthless, useless, coin.</em>
</p><p> </p>
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